Tom Payne Is Getting Used to Being Called Jesus

It's not every day you get to clink glasses with Jesus. Sitting in Danny Meyer's sleek, Southern-inspired Porchlight on a rain-soaked New York afternoon, I'm quizzing Tom Payne about life as a newly minted fan favorite on television's biggest show. Now in its seventh season, AMC's post-apocalyptic zombie drama The Walking Dead is that rare combination of a mainstream hit and a cult artifact. Its record-breaking ratings success—this most recent season premiere drew 17 million viewers—is backed up by a feverish online fandom that has wholeheartedly embraced Payne and his mischievous, quietly principled character, Jesus.

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Born in England, Payne has been based in L.A. for seven years and now spends half the year in Atlanta, where The Walking Dead shoots. As fellow British expats—both of us spent eight years in London before moving across the pond—we have a lot to talk about. As we sip the bar's Three Rings cocktail (like an old-fashioned, but better), we delve into intense fan encounters, the trauma of Brexit, and why Downton Abbey is the worst.

Kathryn Wirsing

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Your big episode this season aired two Sundays ago. Have you noticed an uptick in people recognizing you since?

Yeah, this trip to New York is the first time, because L.A. is so spread out, if you don't want to see people you don't see people, but here fans have been following us. Fans have been turning up in the foyers of buildings for autographs. The show's really part of the culture, so I'm getting used to the fact that I'll pretty much be recognized everywhere now, especially with the hair and the beard. The thing is, people say, 'Oh, you've got the Jesus look!' because I also look like the biblical figure….

Can you tell the difference when someone comes up to you saying 'Jesus!'—like, is this a Bible fan or a zombie fan?

Oh yeah, you can tell, because Walking Dead fans are…they're huge fans. I'm fortunate that the audience warmed to Jesus pretty quickly. Whereas when Father Gabriel [Seth Gilliam] walks out on stage at Madison Square Garden, everyone's booing him! One of the first fan conventions I did was with Seth, and he said people used to just come to these things and say, 'You suck, man. I don't wanna get your autograph, I just wanna say you suck.' I've been really lucky because the character's fun and people like me.

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It seems like Norman Reedus has some extreme fan encounters.

Yeah, Norman got followed into work not long ago, really early in the morning—someone in their car made him pull over. People do crazy, crazy stuff, and I know Norman's moved house a few times because people find out where he lives, so I am slightly worried about that side of it. But generally everyone's really cool.

Jesus is gay in the comics. His sexuality hasn't come up yet on the show, but do you think that'll remain the case?

I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be. And I think that would be such a cool thing, it would be so awesome.

Kathryn Wirsing

Speaking of Norman, there's been a lot of speculation about Daryl being gay too, but if anything he seems kind of asexual.

Yeah, I know! There's a lot of people putting me and him together [in fan fiction], and it's just like…okay? What's interesting about the show is that romance isn't a huge part of it. I know Rick and Michonne was a big deal when that happened, but by virtue of the network you can't really show any sex. That whole scene where I walk in on them in bed, it was just based around: you cannot see a butt crack, you cannot see a side boob. It was just all about lining it up so you could see that they were naked but you couldn't see anything. I was mostly worried about Danai poking me in the face with that sword, so I wasn't looking anywhere other than at the sword!

You're also carrying on the proud tradition of secret Brits on The Walking Dead…

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Yeah, it's like how a lot of people didn't realize Hugh Laurie was British, even though Hugh Laurie is like…the most British you could be.

He's literally the epitome of British.

One thing I love about America is that I'm not boxed in by my upbringing here. England is still so class-based that there are certain roles that I just won't go for. I'm a middle-class boy and I won't go for the scruffy working-class role, which is frustrating, and here I can play anything. Downton Abbey is my worst nightmare. I just hate that whole "Upstairs Downstairs" thing, I think it's really lazy and it doesn't represent England, it's this postcard view…but I mean, that's what people love here!

Kathryn Wirsing

It's always so surreal seeing Downton Abbey in contention for Best Drama at the Emmys, year after year. Like…really?

It's just the most boring, soap opera-y, annoying thing—people love it, and that's fine, but I would have hated it. It's everything that I try to get away from.

So what's the most intense encounter you've had with a fan?

Well, conventions are so cool, because I just feel like I'm giving out smiles all day, it's so fun, and you get people who are hysterically crying. But I've been in tears too on more than one occasion—there are people who have terminal diseases, people who bring memorabilia that someone in their family loved and they've passed away, they're getting it signed for them. A friend of my cousin was in a car crash which brought on a stroke, and she's paralyzed now, learning to talk again, and she's a fan of the show, so I got messages from a bunch of people—from Andy and Norman and everyone, and sent the video over to her. It's such a simple thing for us to do, and for her, my cousin said it was astronomical. We have a lot of Make-a-Wish kids who come to set, and that's amazing too…. [gets slightly choked up] I'm getting emotional now!

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Escapism is such a powerful thing for people. There's a lot of that right now….

Oh yeah, but actually I've read articles about The Walking Dead saying, 'Hmm, the world is quite bleak right now, do I want to watch this bleak television show at the same time?'

This whole year has just been mind-boggling.

I literally left England when David Cameron got in in 2010, and now.... My girlfriend [model lang='EN">Jennifer Åkerman']

I think a lot of people took for granted what a crazy privilege it is to be a European citizen.

Yeah, I grew up with the knowledge that I can go and live in Germany if I want to, I can go and live in Sweden, I can work, I can do anything I want to there, and for that to be taken away, it's like...you fuckers, you've taken away my children's future.

Kathyrn Wirsing

On a more upbeat note—is the entire cast really as nice as they're reported to be?

You may be able to pull me up on this, but I think you'd find it hard to find someone who's had a bad experience with one of the cast. You'd think that on a show this big, people seven years in would be complete dicks, and it would have gone to their head.

Yeah, Andrew Lincoln should definitely be a dick by now.

And it comes from him. He's the head of the cast and if he was a dick, there would be permission. Guest stars talk about how they've been on shows where they couldn't look the lead actor in the eye… fuck that! Life's too short, you can't treat me like shit, we're doing the same job and I don't care who you are. I actually also love counteracting people who are dicks―if someone's being miserable, I just kill it with kindness.

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That's very Jesus of you.

[Laughs] Well, they cast me for a reason. But British actors aren't really like that, and I think Andy's just brought his Britishness to the show. We're also on a show where anyone can die at any time, so if you arrive and you're a dick, okay, maybe you get eaten tomorrow!

Andy started these "death dinners" for people—whenever someone who's been on the show for a while gets killed off, we all have a dinner party and everyone talks about that person, to them. The first thing I did after being cast was attend one of those, and everyone was crying, and I'm like, Guys, it's just a television show, chill out! But now I understand it, because we're so isolated in our little group and it's a really singular experience. I'm sure 50 years from now, we'll still be having get-togethers.

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